June 9 - Gulf Haulage Heavy Lift (GHHL) has used a Terex CC 8800-1 crawler crane to install a flare stack for Saudi Aramco at its Yanbu refinery in Saudi Arabia.
The 200 m high structure comprised of six sections weighing from 21 to 104 tonnes, all of which were lifted into place by GHHL's Terex crane.
GHHL general manager Sanjay Pachisia explained that, due to the refinery's location near to the Red Sea, every day high wind speeds would make it impossible to lift the flare sections, which required a wind speed range of 4.1 m/s to 7.1 m/s.
The project also required a low ground bearing pressure of 12 tonnes per sq m while constructing the crane's boom configurations and lifting the flare stack, explained Terex.
"The CC 8800-1 crawler crane has 2 m wide tracks and offers a wide 10.5 m stance to help disperse the weight over a wide area," said Christian Kassner, senior sales manager at Terex Cranes. The crawler's wide stance plus the use of heavy-duty thick steel matting helped GHHL meet the project's ground pressure requirements.
Before the lift could begin, the CC 8800-1 components were transported over 1,400 km from GHHL's Dammam headquarters to the Yanbu project site - a move that required the use of seven heavy-duty trailers, 12 low bed trailers and 40 flatbed trailers.
The 1,600-tonne capacity crawler was then assembled at the site, before being equipped with 108 m of main boom and its superlift system to hoist the first flare section, which weighed 104 tonnes, to a height of 100.3 m.
For the next two lifts, GHHL reconfigured the crane by adding its luffing jib to the main boom. For the final three lifts, the luffing jib was used, configured to the maximum boom length of 216 m, while the available runner winch was also utilised by the crane operators.
After 11 days all six lifts were completed and the CC 8800-1 crane was disassembled on site, before being transported back to GHHL's Damman facility by road.
